Rajasthan Royals skipper Shane Warne praised his team’s spirit after the defending Indian Premier League champions edged closer to the semi-finals on Thursday with a two-run win over Mumbai Indians.
Munaf Patel bowled a tight last over under pressure when Mumbai needed just four runs to achieve their 146-run target, but the Indian seamer conceded just one.
It was Mumbai who folded as three wickets fell in that last over, including two run-outs.
PHOTO: AP
“All credit to the guys who showed great character. It just showed the spirit in our group,” said Warne, who was named man of the match.
Mumbai skipper Tendulkar hit a solid 40 and Abhishek Nayar an 18-ball 35 to raise his team’s hopes of victory following a triple-strike by Warne, but Rajasthan hit back in the closing over.
Mumbai’s hopes rested on Tendulkar and Sanath Jayasuriya (16), specialist openers batting in the middle order, after three wickets had fallen for 23, but Warne removed both at the right time.
Delhi lead the eight-team tournament with 16 points from 10 matches.
Rob Quiney and Indian middle-order batsman Ravinder Jadeja earlier boosted Rajasthan with a 61-run stand for the third wicket.
Quiney top-scored with a 40-ball 51 for his maiden half-century of the tournament, while Jadeja scored 42 off 32 balls.
Earlier, Ross Taylor hit a crucial 46 to steer Bangalore Royal Challengers to an exciting two-wicket win over Chennai Super Kings.
The New Zealander added 56 for the fourth wicket with Virat Kohli (38) as Bangalore achieved a 130-run target with two balls to spare to keep alive their hopes of qualifying for the semi-finals.
Taylor fell in the final over after hitting one six in his sensible 50-ball knock. Vinay Kumar completed the victory when he smashed Jacob Oram for a four.
Four-time NBA all-star DeMarcus Cousins arrived in Taiwan with his family early yesterday to finish his renewed contract with the Taiwan Beer Leopards in the T1 League. Cousins initially played a four-game contract with the Leopards in January. On March 18, the Taoyuan-based team announced that Cousins had renewed his contract. “Hi what’s up Leopard fans, I’m back. I’m excited to be back and can’t wait to join the team,” Cousins said in a video posted on the Leopard’s Facebook page. “Most of all, can’t wait to see you guys, the fans, next weekend. So make sure you come out and support the Beer
Revelations of positive doping tests for nearly two dozen Chinese swimmers that went unpunished sparked an intense flurry of accusations and legal threats between the World Anti-Doping Agency (WADA) and the head of the US drug-fighting organization, who has long been one of WADA’s fiercest critics. WADA on Saturday said it was turning to legal counsel to address a statement released by US Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) CEO Travis Tygart, who said WADA and anti-doping authorities in China swept positive tests “under the carpet by failing to fairly and evenly follow the global rules that apply to everyone else in the world.” The
Taiwanese judoka Yang Yung-wei on Saturday won silver in the men’s under-60kg category at the Asian Judo Championships in Hong Kong. Nicknamed the “judo heartthrob” in Taiwan, the Olympic silver-medalist missed out on his first Asian Championships gold when he lost to Japanese judoka Taiki Nakamura in the finals. Yang defeated three opponents on Saturday to reach the final after receiving a bye through the round of 32. He first topped Laotian Soukphaxay Sithisane in the round of 16 with two seoi nage (over-the-shoulder throws), then ousted Indian Vijay Kumar Yadav in the quarter-finals with his signature ude hishigi sankaku gatame (triangular armlock). He
Rafael Nadal on Wednesday said the upcoming French Open would be the moment to “give everything and die” on the court after his comeback from injury in Barcelona was curtailed by Alex de Minaur. The 22-time Grand Slam title winner, back playing this week after three months on the sidelines, battled well, but eventually crumbled 7-5, 6-1 against the world No. 11 from Australia in the second round. Nadal, 37, who missed virtually all of last season, is hoping to compete at the French Open next month where he is the record 14-time champion. The Spaniard said the clash with De Minaur was